Bored? Stuck at home? Rather be on the road or camping? We are right there with you. To fill the void at our house, we’ve been using our spare time to take different kinds of virtual road trips. In this post, we’ve put together a list of ideas to help end the boredom. We hope some of these resources will “get you out of the house” and help you start planning your next big adventure.
YouTube
Some of our favorite folks to virtually travel with are full-time RVers. These folks travel all over the country giving tips on where to go and what to do and see. They also give reviews on great camping spots, and we promise that you’re going to see some amazing scenery and points of interest along the way, too. In random order, our top six picks:
- Changing Lanes – best for higher end camping and motorcycle rides.
- Embracing Detours – best for free camping spots and traveling with pets.
- Grand Adventure – best for boondocking in very scenic places.
- Traveling Robert – best all around for travel, RV camping, hiking, and scenery.
- Less Junk, More Journey – best for traveling the country with small kids.
- Long Long Honeymoon – best for tips and tricks along with great destinations.
Texas
We love for others to see what adventures await in our great home state of Texas. Some of our favorites:
- The Daytripper – Chet Garner and crew travel to a new Texas city or town every week – PBS – check listings for times.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife – travel to state parks and recreation areas and view our state’s amazing wildlife – PBS – check listings for times.
- Texas Country Reporter – ride along with Bob Phillips for amazing places in Texas – various channels – check their website for more information. Here’s a link: Texas Country Reporter
- The Texas Bucket List – learn about the people, places, food, and fun that Texas has to offer with host Shane McAuliffe – various channels and times – check their website for more information. Here’s a link: Texas Bucket List
Netflix
We thoroughly enjoyed the two shows listed below. The only problem: they weren’t long enough!
- Expedition Happiness – join Salima and Felix as they travel North America in a school bus turned RV – movie – 1.5 hours.
- National Parks Adventure – documentary narrated by Robert Redford – 42 minutes.
Prime Video
While some Prime Video selections have to be rented, the following are included with an Amazon Prime membership.
- The National Parks – America’s Best Idea – 12 part documentary by Ken Burns
- America’s 58 National Parks – documentary series with 57 episodes
- America’s National Parks – 8 part documentary series
- Best Parks Ever – America’s National Parks – 10 part documentary series
- America’s Treasures – 8 part documentary series
- RV – hilarious 2006 movie starring Robin Williams – 1.5 hours
- National Lampoon’s Vacation – 1983 movie starring Chevy Chase – the ultimate guide for what you don’t want a road trip to be – definitely worth another watch
Books
There’s nothing like a good book. Pick up the hard copies or download a couple of our favorites are listed below.
- Dear Bob and Sue – three book series covering Matt and Karen Smith’s adventures while visiting all of the national parks. These are a great read for any national park or travel enthusiast – couldn’t put them down! They have written a couple of other travel-related books, too, so check those out as well.
- 50 States 5000 Ideas – National Geographic publication which also includes the 10 Canadian Provinces – where to go, what to see, what to do. This is a fun book!
- On the Road – classic Jack Kerouac novel published in 1959. If you have never read it, now is a great time.
- Any road atlas – yep, we mean that old fashioned paper map book. Atlas trips are a favorite pastime of ours. Pick a state and see what all it has to offer by “traveling” its highways and backroads via map.
Around the Web
The possibilities are endless for navigating travel related sites on the web. Here are some of our favorite stops:
- RoadsideAmerica.com – pick any city and state to see what quirky attractions await.
- AtlasObscura.com – enter a destination in their search box to see what interesting sights can be found there.
- Explore.org – a collection of live webcams and webcam videos from around the world. Kids will love this!
- OnlyinYourState.com – enter a state in the search box to find out about people, places, and things in the state of your choosing.
- TripAdvisor.com we like to search “things to do” in a particular city and state to see what Trip Advisor comes up with.
- DearBobandSue.com – check out their website for podcasts, photos of their adventures, and more.
- One for the Money Two for the Road Blog – you’re already here, so look through our archives and revisit some great road trip ideas, itineraries, and photos!
We hope our ideas will help you escape for a few minutes or a few hours. Remember to count your blessings, wash your hands, and turn off the news. Stay safe and well, and we will see you when we can get back on the road.
Mike and Kellye
As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) We aren’t paid for our recommendations, and we only recommend our own tried and true vendors and venues. Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.
©2020
